Friday, 29 January 2010

Throats first appeared on my radar after doing an insane split EP with Maths way back… and later with the_Network both releases tore me a new one by starting with the ears and shredding everything else from there. So with 2009 bringing a full solo release from Maths with the wonderful Descent it’s brilliant to see Throats step out on their own and drop their debut solo record on Holy Roar. And you know what? It’s brutal.

‘Wake’ sets upon you like a maniac pouncing from the shadows to kick off the EP, with a tense prowling hardcore riff and brutal bursts of drums. ‘My Hands Are Cold’ takes the energy levels up even further with double time drumming and thrashy dense riffs alongside the primal screaming. ‘Fuck Life’ is so aggressive and cathartic that it’s like a carnal release from the beast within, plus it really twists it’s self into some serious riffs at the mid point that make you want to windmill your TV off the stand, if you happen to be listening to the EP in your front room... ‘Failgiver’ has a hardcore stomp like a rampaging dinosaur, there is just no let up here at all, and it’s all raw and hyper-fuelled brutal emotion. ‘Something Low From This Way Comes’ with its chugging low slung riffs comes on like a wall of sound that’s getting shredded by drum bursts as lethal as nunchucks, plus there is a killer solo. ‘Oak/Wait’ finishes off the EP in a high-speed throat shredding fashion and before you know it you’ve been led down a brutal path and you’re out the other side bruised, battered but laughing and full of adrenaline from the experience.

Throats kill it here; harness their pure cathartic energy into some truly beastly tracks. Holy Roar come with the goods again and show that you can have emotive music that isn’t wet, Throats have a heavy as hell quick fire hardcore sound that just screams release and the listening experience is a treat, instead of feeling knackered from the outburst of power/emotion, its kind of energising.

Ink is back with a very special night to raise funds for the Haiti earthquake disaster.

ALL money will be going to Oxfam to help with their aid effort. Everyone from the promoters to the DJ’s are donating their time so everything can go to help, so make sure you come down and support the cause.

Plus we’ll all be spinning some quality music to make the night go off.

Friday, 22 January 2010

Scratcha DVA drops his debut 12” for the iconic Hyperdub with his own take on the funky sound, one that the grime producer has been perfecting for some time. After the infectious Jelly Roll EP DVA hits back with two prime cuts of dark no nonsense percussive funky.

The snares on ‘Natty’ have that off-centre skippy nature, like skimming a pebble over open water and they really give the track a lilting groove, which plays off the tribal percussion in fine style, switching from one subtle groove to the other only to be enhanced by the pulse of a ragged bass tone that really makes things swing. It’s so simple but so effective, a dark side funky track that really gets under the skin. ‘Ganja’ is less reliant on the percussive interplay and instead hinges on the catchy sinuous bass line that winds its way around the track not unlike DJ Mujava’s ‘Township Funk’, a cycle of whining bleeps that twists into dance floor oblivion.

Hyperdub always do funky differently, be it the smeared synths of Kode9 or the loved up deep and spacious sounds of Cooly G and DVA brings his own dark and minimal take on the sound with this 12” too. ‘Natty’ is a percy and ‘Ganja’ is kind of addictive, solid 12”.

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

East London’s Mizz Beats first made her mark producing grime beats for names like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and D Double E to name but a few, but came to prominence last year when co-producing the bubbling anthem ‘Purple Love’ with Silkie. But now as part of the formidable Anti Social Entertainment crew along with: Silkie, Quest, J5, Kromestar, Harry Craze and Heny G, she’s flexing he soulful dubstep muscles and where better to do that than on Mala’s Deep Medi imprint…

On the A-side comes the swirling funk of ‘My World’ with its skipping tight drum patterns and a digital groove carved from midi trumpets and buzzy bass tones. There is a meditative, laid back dubstep quality at work here; you can really feel the soul. The flip ‘The Jester’ takes us down the 8-bit route, with SNES-like sound effects fed through a haze of high-grade into a psychedelic soup of digi-funk.

No one quite does it like Deep Medi and the Anti Social collective; they melt together the roots of dubstep with all its space and bass with a trippy street-funk that echoes late night cityscapes and pirate radio like no other. Mizz Beats adds a bleepy dimension to the crew with this 12” and that’s a dimension that’s more than welcome.

Saturday, 16 January 2010

Just before record buying Armageddon picks up again and decides to destroy everyone’s wallets with fresh platters of sound coming thick and fast again this year, here’s a little round up of some 12”s from my bag at the end of last year.

Royal T – 1Up or Shatup EP [No Hoods No Hats]One of the grime instrumentals of the year, 1Up is Mario on the rampage, fuckin’ things up to get those coins, P Money kills the vocal but you’ll need to buy his mixtape for that. Martin Kemp turns in a funky remix with balls and Bok Bok maybe makes the best material I’ve heard from him yet.

Martin Kemp – After The Night/Aztec [Blunted Robots]Funky manoeuvres with broken grooves, deep bass and twisted synths that sound like harnessed air pressure pointed directly at your feet to make you move. Martin Kemp does it again, the Blunted Robots crew are really on it right now.

Breakage ft. Newham Generals & David Rodigan – Hard/(Caspa & The Others ‘The Police Takeover remix’) [Digital Soundboy]The instrumental ‘Together’ was always big but the Newham Generals give it a new lease of life by making one of THE grime bangers of the year. The Gen’s kill it vocally and add extra hype to a deep track. I’d love to hear more of the Gen’s on dubstep.

Joker – Digidesign (Om Unit’s Pop Lock remix) [White]Quality hip-hop re-fix of the Joker favourite that has been locked in my head since I first heard it gets the Om Unit aka 2Tall treatment. He gives it a digital b-boy flex with loads of snap. Added playtime for a track I still can’t stop rinsing.

V/A – 25/11/09 EP [Ramp]Sampha/Slugabed/Tokimonsta/Shortstuff/SBTRKT/P.U.D.G.E. celebrate the night in question with a super limited 12” EP with one track from everyone that played. Irresistible for the frozen remix of A Rustling that takes that track and goes all Wiley on us. Getting an original SBTRKT track that isn’t a remix is bless too. Tokimonsta brings her own brand of off-centre hip-hop and kills it.

Julio Bashmore – Um Bongo’s Revenge/World Peace [Dirtybird]It took me a little while to get into this one, Um Bongo… is like a straight up peak time techno track with a funky slant and cheeky vocal sample that gets people smiling. World Peace is a subtler affair that keeps growing on you.

Ikonika – Sahara Michael/Fish [Hyperdub]Taster of things to come from the wonderful Ikonika, who is all set to release an album in 2010. SM was on the ‘5’ comp and with its catchy funk its still lodge in my head. Fish stands up too, with more of an epic sound. Her twisted synths are kind of special. Now what we really need is her track, ‘Idiot’ its insane.

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

To celebrate a whole year in the blog game Sonic Router are hosting Room 2 at [dissident] in Bristol on the 6th Feb 2010. We've invited some of our favourite DJs including Brackles, Jack Sparrow, Shortstuff and Gemmy to mark to occasion.

Saturday, 9 January 2010

Bitter-sweat smoky dub, love songs full of longing and a heavy sense of dread: Kevin Martin makes a return with a new project to follow up last years fantastic ‘London Zoo’ under The Bug pseudonym. Roger Robinson joins him in a more prominent roll, taking off where he left with the subtler cuts from the aforementioned album, eerie falsetto and a fragility that really balanced the aggressive energy of that project. Hitomi also features; often on backing vocals or in a more prominent roll giving Robinson a strong counter point to play off, the pair create an atmosphere full of ethereal emotion. ‘Waiting For You…’ is the first full artist album form Hyperdub since Burial’s sublime ‘Untrue’ and continues in a line of albums from the label that are full of a melancholic darkness and tension that shows a side of our modern existence so well. In fact ‘Waiting For You…’ may well be the natural successor to ‘Untrue’ in theme at least, both albums seem to deal with love and longing in some way but from entirely different angles.

The opener ‘Cool Out’, which came out last year with a couple of brilliant remixes from Flying Lotus and Dabrye. The original has lost none of its appeal though, the opening lines ‘We kill soundboys with our shaoulin styles’ are delivered with a sweat fragile air about them that gives the lyrical bravado of the whole track a eerie juxtaposition of styles that works so well. ‘Waiting For You’ and ‘Meltdown’ have a similar stripped back minimal sound that lets the love sick lyrics really breathe so lines like ‘Seems like I’m heading for a meltdown’ really stick in your mind. The latter was also on the fantastic ‘5’ compilation, a biter sweat lovers dub track that this album excels in. ‘Darlin’ works with similar effect.

‘One Ting’ first heard in dub form as part of the 12” before the album is a dense affair that comes across as a hip-hop variant on London Zoo era Bug material. ‘I Man’ also appeared on that 12” under the name ‘I Dub’, it’s my favourite on there too and the vocal works a treat. The gentle winding toy box melody that ushers in the teeth shaking bass line gets me every time. It’s probably the best vocaling of the previously released dubs too, the lines, ‘Morning brings a smile, I have a happy vibe’ make it one of the most hopeful here too. ‘Outta Space’ comes with some subtle dancehall beats and chords that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Vengalis album, but seeped in dub and a fuzzy fragile atmosphere.

We get our first glimpses of Hitomi on ‘Earth a Killya’, where she ushers in the opening mantra, a gentle, hushed delivery that’s so controlled that it’s both beautiful and sinister. Robinson delivers his lyrics in a simple spoken tone, which offsets the two deliveries really well. This trac and the wonderful ‘Lost’ most reminds me of early trip-hop and early Bristol sounds, they have the breaks and the latter even has Portishead-esq loop. The bass pulse that echoes out of the un-named instrumental before ‘Goodbye Girl’ is something else, it reaches right through you just like the feelings of heartbreak but in sonic form. It’s emotion recreated in bass a feat this album pulls off brilliantly throughout.

‘Waiting For You…’ is an album of loss, longing and heartbreak; it’s a heavy listen at times due to its dense atmosphere and emotion. But it’s also a brilliantly relaxing listen that gives puts you in a Zen like state of tranquillity to meditate on the albums messages and the lush bass heavy atmosphere. Kevin Martin, Roger Robinson and Hitomi have created an album that you’ll find yourself coming back to and discovering more in the lyrics and sound, it’s an album that grows and reveals its self slowly.

Thursday, 7 January 2010

Tectonic have brought the darkness with the last few releases by Cyrus and Kryptic Minds, that’s set to continue with this latest 12” with Distance at the helm. Two slabs of low-end pressure, the first being an original track then on the flip Distance reworks Pinch’s 2007 album cut ‘One Blood, One Source’ in typical style.

‘Clockwork’ is vintage Distance, rocking half stepping drums and bucket loads of darkness. The grizzly bass pulses come on hard but there is still a really deep and spacious edge to this track. It sounds as good as anything on his ‘Repercussions’ album but saying that its maybe just one for the more hardcore Distance fans.

What makes this 12” is the brilliant remix of Pinch’s ‘One Blood, One Source’, which features the vocal talents of Rudey Lee in full effect. Distance turns in a smooth and deep rootsy dub remix, the bass tones should shake up any soundsystem that’s for sure. The hooks from Lee really get in your head along with the bass melodies.

When Distance takes things deep he really shines and this Tectonic plate shows that off, Pinch has an ear for the dark side and his label is really flexing that muscle in style right now.

Worriedaboutsatan’s Arrivals and the remix album that followed made waves on my stereo ever since I heard the demos they kindly sent right the way through to the finished article. They’ll be playing that and previewing new material. Her Name Is Calla, a band I’m not so familiar with as yet are touring to support their new single and forthcoming album set for release in spring and I for one am looking forward to exploring their beautiful sound. Have some links…

Monday, 4 January 2010

Now where to start with Gnomefoam, I first bumped into them via a collaborative project on the wonderfully diverse net label Rack & Ruin, a project they worked on with _ yep _, now _ is a brilliant artist that specialises in his own little world a world where _ rains supreme and field recordings and sporadic ideas rule. The Gnomefoam/_ axis of sound was called Anata Wa Sukkari Tsukarete Shimai, which came in the form of two EPs one noisy on R&R and one laid back on Bearsuit Records, both polls apart in sound but just as brilliant to listen to. But now we have Gnomefoam on his own with Fucklord Dragonfist a sample-shafting journey through sound.

Freaky collages of words and fx usher in the album with sample addled tracks opening out in front of you, but things really come into their own on the shimmering laid back beauty of ‘FADE’, which feels like a hip-hop variant on the twinkling ambient experiments of Aphex Twin. ‘Beasthole Tunebarge’ comes on like a freaky hybrid of the Beach Boy aping indie hipsters Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear doing an acapela in space as punishment for being mentioned in every music publication on earth to the point that you’re a bit sick of the site of the names, and it sounds brilliant too.

The underwater siren song of ‘Saved by Beluga’ is a twisted otherworldly story from the deep that really comes into its own when the orchestral swells and delayed spoken word samples come into full effect, before melting into the surf… ‘Livid’ balances the disturbing with the laid back, by throwing together bursts of noise and rolling electro drums with distorted vocal snippets and a mesmerising guitar loop, it works really well as a juxtaposition. ‘The Fucklord’ pulls off a similar feat, with its horror film screams and disturbing monologs drenched in effects, but then it kicks off in a whole new direction with rave addled breaks and even a small metal lick.

The almost Portishead-like vocals on ‘Wright/Griffths’ have a hazy dreamy quality that draws you in then some seriously twisted soul grooves appear like you’ve driven past a funky house club on a windswept rainy night. The toy town breakbeat of ‘Hostage Moth Guns’ flys out of the gates like a deranged Go Team! Before taking a more atmospheric direction in the mid section before it drops back into the car chase soundtrack breaks.

Gnomefoam has made an enjoyable collage of sound that jumps from the eerie and sublime to the fun and noisy at the drop of a hat. The messy sporadic nature of it all is endearing and makes for an interesting listen.

'so here's to jimitheexploder. The only name to trust'Worriedaboutsatan

'Jimi - whose enthusiasam for this remarkable genre is humbling - he say's "Now that's a single!" And let's face it, I know who I should be more inclined to take my dubstep recommendations from'Wendy Roby of DiS